ILA agrees to halt slowdown, NYSA says
A longshore labor dispute that produced three days of work slowdowns and long delays for trucks at Port of New York and New Jersey marine terminals apparently was settled Friday, the Journal of Commerce reported.
Joseph Curto, president of the New York Shipping Association, said the NYSA and International Longshoremen’s Association submitted the dispute to an industry arbitrator under their contract’s dispute resolution provision.
“This dispute was handled by that provision, and while an agreement is being finalized which addresses all elements of the dispute, I have received very strong assurances by the ILA that service in all facilities is being normalized,” Curto said Friday afternoon.
Curto wouldn’t discuss the nature of the dispute, but several other sources said it was triggered by the union’s displeasure at the firing of two ILA maintenance and repair workers at APM Terminals.
The slowdown and resulting delays aggravated truck traffic jams during the busy period before the Memorial Day weekend. At one point, drivers had to wait as long as six or seven hours outside terminals, said Dick Jones, executive director of the Association of Bi-State Motor Carriers. At midafternoon Friday, drivers were still reporting waits of as much as three hours.